


Up To Something

by CrabbyMaiden



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Comedy, Developing Friendship, Discovering secrets, F/M, Mostly just smart-dumb tho, Mugging, One Shot, Peter Parker is a Mess, You're kind of weird, and a bit of an asshole, author has no idea what she's doing, but spidey saves the day, duh - Freeform, no beta here just an idiot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-28
Updated: 2020-05-28
Packaged: 2021-03-02 21:02:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,119
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24483217
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CrabbyMaiden/pseuds/CrabbyMaiden
Summary: There was something screwy about that Peter Parker kid that sat at the back of your classes and you were going to get to the bottom of it one way or another.
Relationships: Peter Parker/Reader
Comments: 9
Kudos: 89
Collections: Let's Create Spring Madness 2020





	Up To Something

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Aphromisna](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aphromisna/gifts).



> Prompt:  
> "Give me some kind of cute MCU story, but since I'm late to the party I need to be a little picky and say no Endgame spoilers please. Still haven't seen it, I know I'm behind the times. But otherwise any kind of ship/cute thing you'd like to write I'd be alright with it."
> 
> Well hey I'm late to the mcu party too~ I hope this works for you, and please excuse me if I got any details wrong about the characters since I've seen Spiderman Homecoming once and haven't seen any of them beyond that LOL

There was something screwy about that Peter Parker kid that sat at the back of your classes.

First it was the internship at Stark Industries. Everybody was jealous (including you, even though you were dumber than a brick when it came to tech) and his fellow academics were prone to giving him the stink eye and trapping him inside lockers. Who wouldn't be envious when the dweeb worked directly with _the_ Tony Stark? You were tempted to give him a wedgie yourself every time he mentioned working for "Mr Stark" or the off the wall stuff he got to do in the facilities.

Then it was the _bodyguard_ . A big, stocky guy named Happy: who was actually _pissed_ most of the time. He was constantly around the school, just staring and following the twig of a teen around like his very own personal meat shield. Nobody really wanted to body check the dork when there was a grown ass man ready to body slam you into the next millennia so really it worked well for protecting him from the swirlies.

When the bodyguard wasn't enough, the dweeb had to stop walking to and from school and was "forced" to ride around in some fancy car. A fancy car that had an Irish accent or something. You had never seen a car hold a conversation with someone before, but it seemed more than happy to sass Happy at the drop of a hat every time you passed it on your walk home.

The times Happy and his Irish car wasn't available, two beefcake hotties were the ones lurking around: one blonde, bright and sunny, the other dark, gloomy and pretty much always wearing a full body suit no matter the weather. Sometimes it was a bombshell redhead in a killer dress that looked like she could crush a man's skull with her thighs. One time it was some weirdo that sat up in the rafters during your gym class, staring down at all of you like some pissed off bird.

It was weird, yeah, but you chalked it up to being a perk of working for Tony Stark.

***

You didn't start to suspect him of anything more than being a suck-up until you accidentally walked by as he was scaling a wall like a goddamn monkey. You thought you were on drugs at first, because seriously - who the fuck would believe something as ridiculous as _Peter Goddamn Parker_ climbing a wall like he was Spiderman or some shit? But there you stood, gaping up at him as he just _skittered_ up onto an apartment building's rooftop like it was nothing.

And that's what started it all. Was he a vampire? Monkey? Parkour enthusiast? Did you accidentally huff something on the walk home from school? You didn't know, but the little shit was _up_ to something and you were going to find out what.

So, you tried to start your investigation subtly.

And by that you mean you stared. You stared at him as he worked, you followed him around in the halls, you sat closer to him at lunch so you could see what the fuck he was eating that let him _climb a brick wall_. Though apparently, your stare spooked him because he got into the habit of outright running away from you or hiding behind his friends. Which was clever because that MJ girl he hung out with actually scared the piss out of you and you didn't care about his secret enough to get your ass kicked.

***

When staring didn't work, you moved on to outright talking to him.

" _Hey,_ " you had hissed at him one of the rare moments you had managed to catch him alone.

He almost jumped out of his skin, whipping around to gawp at you like you were about to pull a gun on him. "H-huh? O-oh, hey, uh... You."

"Whatcha doing?"

"Oh... Nothing?"

You squinted at him and he shifted uncomfortably, so you decided to be more direct. "I _know_ you're up to something."

If he was scared before, he looked about to hyperventilate when you said that and he held his backpack up like it could somehow shield him from your scowl. "W-what?"

"You heard me, Parker. I _know_ you're up to some weird shit."

"I... Don't know what you're talking about? M-me? Up to something? Pffft." You almost felt sorry for him when he glanced at the window, probably debating if he would break his ankles jumping out the window. "Uh... Are you thinking of Macy Parker? She's in our English class-"

"Do you think I'm stupid?"

"What? _No!_ Of course you're not! You- you're uh... Smart, y-you know?" He leaned on the table in front of him casually and tried to give you a disarming smile, but only managed to bare his teeth at you awkwardly. "W-would I lie to you?"

"Yes," you deadpanned and took a step towards him. "So what is it? Are you a vampire? Some kind of specialized monkey-human hybrid?"

_That_ had made him double take and it was his turn to look at you like you were up to No Good. "... What? Monkey-human hybrid- _no_?? Why wh- what would make you think that?"

"Well I _saw_ you climbing that brick wall. So how'd you do it? Suction cups? Magnets?" You leaned on the table and stooped over so you could stare him right in the eye. "Are you a cousin of bigfoot?"

"N-no? I'm- I'm sorry, but _what_? Did you just call me bigfoot?"

" _Yeah_ I called you bigfoot: I'll call you a chupacabra too if you don't spill your guts right now." You made an exaggerated gesture of pointing at him, but all he did was flinch away.

"U-um. Okay, this- this isn't exactly w-what I- you know... Uh? Mmmmaaaaaybe..." He stammered around, then suddenly _bolted_ for the door, catching you off guard as he blasted out of the room. "Talktoyoulaterbye!"

You squawked indignantly, but when you tried to run after him, you ran straight into a table and knocked the wind out of yourself. Speedy little bastard. 

***

Catching him alone after that was even harder. It was like some kind of weird ass game the two of you were playing and you had to admit, you were borderline obsessive about it. You'd spot each other in the hallway and he would power walk in the other direction while you barreled through anybody and everybody in an attempt to catch up to him. At some point, you slammed straight into the running back of the school's football team, gave him a black eye with your head and sent him sliding across the floor before carrying on your way without giving a damn.

The principal wasn't too happy about it as he wrote up a detention for you to serve, but the football coach seemed impressed. Not that it helped you get any closer to your goal of discovering The Truth.

Your game of cat and mouse went on for weeks, it felt like, and somewhere along the line, his friend Ned approached you at lunch while you were nursing a bruise on your face that you got for slipping and sliding into lockers. He looked like he was on a Mission too, but he also had the look of a man that was just sent to his death. 

"Do you have a crush on Peter?" He had asked you in a rush and you had to stare at him blankly for a few seconds before you processed what he said.

You chewed your mouthful of peanut butter and jelly and let him sit in suspense before you said, "I want to crush him, yes."

He grinned, then frowned. Then grinned again. "So... You _do_ like-like him?"

"What's his secret?" You deflected and scrutinized him. "You're with him all the time. I bet _you'd_ know something."

Ned paled visibly and held his hands up in surrender. "I-I'll just. Take that as a 'no'."

You scowled at him as he backed away from you and aggressively bit into your sandwich again.

***

It was a Friday night and you had just finished serving out your detention for accidentally tackling the football player. You were sore, brain dead and really just wanted to take a nap so you could start plotting your next move. Not at all paying attention to your surroundings as one _should_ do when walking home in New York, but you had somehow gotten this far in life being stupid, so you assumed you could carry on carrying on. 

It wasn't until a hand yanked you into an alleyway and held a gun to your head that you realized you were wrong. Very wrong. About to be _dead_ wrong.

"Gimme your money," the man in front of you said, dirty and dressed in black like your stereotypical movie robber. Distantly you thought to yourself that he could have at least tried to be creative. "Gimme everything you got and I won't hurt you."

"I have some homework," you automatically told him without thinking of the consequences. "And 79 cents in my pocket. What more do you want from me? My mechanical pencil that's out of lead?"

He was in the process of throttling you violently for your sass when he just upped and disappeared.

Well, disappeared was a loose term because you were fairly certain that somebody had yanked him off you, but you were too busy falling flat on your back and coughing to really pay much attention. When you sat up, all you saw was a full grown man being chucked by a little guy in red and blue tights before being strung up in the air by thick, white webbing. You had to blink pretty hard to figure out if you had bashed your head when you hit the ground, or if you were actually seeing the fabled "Man of Spiders".

"Hey, you okay there?" The masked hero asked you, crouching beside your prone body as he reached to help you up.

And you _recognized that fucking voice._

Once again, without thinking, your hand snapped up, grabbed the front of his face and _pulled_ , tugging the mask right off his head to reveal Peter Goddamn Parker. Who was Spiderman. Which made the whole fact that he _climbed a wall_ make a hell of a lot more sense now, but you were too disoriented by everything that happened to gloat in his face that you _knew_ he was up to something.

He slapped his hands over his face. " _Dude!_ "

"Dude!" You shot right back at him and scrambled to your feet. "It's _you_? How the flying fuck-"

You stopped short and stared at the no-longer-masked hero, taking in Peter's wide, panicked eyes through the gaps of his fingers. It was mission accomplished, but it suddenly felt so hollow when he started to plea for you to keep his identity a secret to protect his friends and family. He wasn't even making an effort to get his mask back: he just babbled at you frantically and each word left you feeling colder and colder.

Then it struck you hard that this... _Hero_ was now afraid of _you_. You knew the one thing that nobody should know about him and you realized you spent all this time chasing him around, only to discover the one thing you shouldn't have. It made you feel like a villain in that moment, so you silently gave him back his mask and turned your back on him to head home.

He called after you, but didn't stop you from leaving.

***

The next day, you expected to confronted by the meatball bodyguard. You expected the police to show up. You expected the beefcake good cop bad cop duo to show up and take turns pummeling you. You expected Iron Man to burst through the wall and kick the crap out of you for exposing his protege. _Something_.

But there was nothing. It was dead silent and the only glimpse of Peter you saw was of him turning the corner as you walked to class. You were pretty sure he was avoiding you, which was fair. You _unmasked_ him. That was like, the major superhero no-no. What the hell do you even do with the fact that he was _the_ Spiderman? What do you even say to _him?_ Write him a note saying: "Hey, I'm sorry I've been practically stalking you and now I know your secret identity, but don't worry! I won't tell a soul! =)"

You decided it was better just to keep your head down. He clearly didn't want anything from you, so you could respect that. You'd just take this secret to the grave and pretend it never happened. Problem solved, right?

No. Because he was Peter Goddamn Parker and he was still the target of the locker vandalism and insults and wedgies. And when you sullenly turned the corner one day, there he was: getting his books and homework knocked to the floor by some blockhead. You thought of how he had pretty much tossed a full grown man into a wall a few days ago and you had to wonder why he didn't just clock a bully in the nose just because he could.

You stood there a bit dumbly as his books were kicked around, and then without thinking you shouted, " _Oh shit the principal!_ "

They scattered pretty quickly at that and it left you alone with him despite the clear awkwardness that was between the two of you. Still, you sighed deeply and knelt down beside him to help pick his stuff up and as you did, he kept shooting you nervous glances. He muttered a "thanks" when you handed him a stack of papers, but when you stood up and started to leave, he jumped up and blocked your path.

He blurted, "You're not going to tell anyone?"

"Tell anyone what?" you deadpanned and oh god, you did not want to have this awkward heart to heart moment that you could _sense_ coming on.

"Tell them- uh. Well. _You know_ . My... Secret? Thing?" It was painful watching him try to tell you what he was talking about without explicitly saying what he was talking about. "My... _Secret_ thing? That you know?"

You clapped a hand on his shoulder, looked him dead in the eye and said, "I have no idea what you're talking about."

With that, you stepped around him and walked off as fast as your legs would let you. Because you were done running around the halls and getting detentions because of him.

***

Peter and his friends started sitting at your lonely table at lunch. Which was weird. And awkward. Because the only one that didn't seem to give a damn was MJ and you weren't about to try to burst her "I don't give a shit" bubble, so you just ate your food like it was your last meal. You're not sure what the hell happened to make him stop avoiding you, but now you could hardly get rid of the little bastard. He was like a puppy with the way he kept following you around, trying to start conversations and failing miserably when you would give him minimal word answers.

"S-so, what do you do for fun?"

"Stuff."

"What kind of stuff?"

"Fun stuff."

"What... Do you consider fun stuff?"

"Stuff that's fun."

You had to give him credit where credit was due: he was oddly persistent and not at all bothered by the way _you_ were trying to run from him now. Oh how the tide tables and turned, or however the stupid phrase went. Everywhere you turned, he was _there_ and apparently he was better at following people around that you, but he looked so _happy_ when he tried to hold a conversation with your grumpy ass. You guessed he had plenty of experience dealing with pissy people when he dragged you over to Happy to add you to his list of "friends to keep an eye on".

Happy looked pretty unhappy when he pulled out a tablet, took a picture of you and began to log you into some sort of catalog of people he had to keep tabs on.

When Peter asked you to come over and meet his Aunt, you finally grabbed him and asked, "What's your deal?"

He blinked, then said, "I-I mean, if you're not comfortable coming over, you don't have to-"

" _No_ , I mean _why_ are you asking me over? Why are you trying so hard to - I dunno, be friends? I literally, you know." You made an unmasking motion and it only made him beam at you.

"Well, _yeah,_ but you haven't told anybody and you're actually kinda nice now that I know you a bit better." You stared. He cringed. "You're not as scary now that I know you a bit better."

You opened your mouth to say something in response when that same running back you plowed over body checked Peter, knocking him into you with a laugh. It made you groan, stand him upright again and you turned towards the douche and his pack of friends as they were walking off. " _Hey_ you bunch of moldy cans of off brand raviolis! Watch where you're going or _I'm_ gonna give you another black eye and a boot up the ass!"

They were terribly impressed with your insults and they looked more confused by your threats than anything, but they got the memo for the most part and went about their way. Though when you turned back to Peter, he was grinning even _brighter_ and looked pleased as punch. You rolled your eyes and carried on to class, not even bothering to acknowledge the giddy way he followed behind you.

"See? You're _nice_ ," he smugly told you. "And that's exactly what a friend would do!"

"Are you trying to tell me we're friends? What's next, bracelets?"

"I mean- if- if you want one?"

" _No._ "

"Okay, okay! That's cool, that's fine. So... Didja wanna come meet Aunt May?"

You groaned loudly, stopping in the middle of the hall to throw your hands up in the air. " _Fine_ . I'll ask my mom just- _stop_ grinning at me like that. It's weird."

He didn't stop grinning at you, but by now you had secretly started thinking it was cute when he did. For such a big idiot, he sure had a big and forgiving heart and his social awkwardness was endearing in a way that should be illegal. 

You... wouldn't mind actually being friends with him. Maybe. It was probably unavoidable anyways, not that you really minded.

_Someone_ had to keep people from figuring out the dork's secrets, after all.

  
  


**Author's Note:**

> Hopefully you liked it~ Thank you for the interesting prompt!


End file.
